Barge of the Dead
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-223 |producer(s)= |story= Ronald D. Moore Bryan Fuller |script= Bryan Fuller |director= Mike Vejar |imdbref=tt0708852 |guests=Eric Pierpoint as Kortar, Sherman Augustus as Hij'Qa and Karen Austin as Miral |previous_production=Survival Instinct |next_production=Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy |episode=VGR S06E03 |airdate=6 October 1999 |previous_release=Survival Instinct |next_release=Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2376) |previous_story=Survival Instinct |next_story=Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy }} Summary B'Elanna's shuttle runs into an ion storm upon her return to Voyager. As the shuttle hits the deck, she is thrown forward and hits her head. She is diagnosed with a mild concussion and she retreats to her quarters to rest. Chakotay brings her a metal slat with a Klingon insignia that was found attached to the rear of the shuttle. B'Elanna puts the object down on her table and she notices that blood begins to pool out of it. She also hears haunting screams and otherworldly cries of pain radiating from the artifact. Tuvok suggests that she was experiencing a subconscious manifestation of her hatred of her Klingon heritage. Neelix decides to throw a party to celebrate the discovery of an object from Voyager's Alpha Quadrant. Just as B'Elanna is to say a few words, a group of Klingons appear and kill Captain Janeway. No one else sees what is happening and as B'Elanna tries to escape, she too is attacked. B'Elanna finds herself lying on the deck of a Klingon ship. A Klingon approaches her and holds a branding iron to her cheek. However, it doesn't embed the Klingon emblem since she is only half Klingon. A Klingon male named Brok'tan tells her that she is on the Barge of the Dead traveling to Gre'thor, or Klingon Hell, where dishonored souls are taken. Next, it is announced that another dishonored soul has been delivered. B'Elanna is completely shocked to find that it is her mother, Miral. Suddenly, B'Elanna wakes up in the Sickbay. Apparently, she was in a coma after her shuttle was caught in the vicious ion storm. B'Elanna tells Chakotay that she thinks she died and was on the Barge of the Dead. Later, after reading old Klingon scrolls, she tells Paris that she sent her mother to the Barge because of her dishonor. B'Elanna believes that she can save her mother before she passes through the gates of hell by restoring the honor that was lost. B'Elanna has a difficult time convincing Captain Janeway to alter her vital signs. Janeway only gives her one hour to accomplish this task. B'Elanna loses consciousness and finds herself back on the Barge of the Dead. Brok'tan will help B'Elanna get to her mother by distracting the guards. Initially, Miral believes that her daughter is only an illusion. B'Elanna finally convinces her mother that she can save her from Klingon hell and send her to Sto-Vo-Kor. After performing the ancient Klingon ritual, B'Elanna and Miral and disappointed with the failed results. B'Elanna's only other option is to die for Miral and take her place in hell. B'Elanna agrees and Miral is taken up towards the sky to Sto-Vo-Kor. The gates of Gre'thor open ahead of the Barge and B'Elanna is lead to her own hell aboard Voyager. Suddenly, Miral appears to B'Elanna and tells her daughter that she can be saved by freeing herself. All B'Elanna has to do is live with honor and discipline, like a true Klingon. Suddenly, The Doctor begins to bring B'Elanna out of her comatose state. Miral tells B'Elanna that they will be reunited forever in Sto-Vo-Kor. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 7:20 pm: The Klingon song that the Doctor and Seven sing doesn't really resemble any Klingon music that we've heard before. Their song was light and cheerful. But most Klingon music we've heard before has been dark and slow, with a heavy, pounding beat, often in minor keys. (Think Soldiers of the Empire.) Rene on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 7:51 pm: Actually the Klingon song from this episode was the same one that Worf and his father's friend sang in The Way of the Warrior. # Shane Tourtellotte on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 8:20 pm: Five barrels of bloodwine seems a bit excessive for a crew of about 150 (and about a dozen we saw in the mess hall). A barrel is a measure equal to 55 gallons. You can do the math. (Okay, so Klingon barrels may hold less, and yes, it was in Torres's imagination. I hate episodes like this. :-p) Some of it could be trading stock. # Was I not paying attention, or were there no 47s in this episode? Have they given that up? A pity. ''Sparrow47 on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 9:58 pm:''In reference to the 47's, yes, there was one that I caught. At one point when they're trying to stabailze B'lanna, Tom says her cortical whatevers are at "47%". That's it. ''inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am:''I believe Janeway was announcing these readings and there was a part when she said "48%; 37" but no 47. # PaulG on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 8:25 pm: In reference to the bat'leth slashing scene, I know it is a dream sequence but shouldn't the weapon do some damage? When the Doc and Seven get slashed and fall down, neither of them is bleeding or even has cut clothing. For some reason, I would think the bat'leth blade would be sharp - a blunt blade wouldn't do much damage to the lower abdomen. And I doubt a sharp weapon would hurt a hologram anywho. Dreams events don’t have to occur exactly like real events – that’s part of the point! # This is an ongoing nit/point from the very beginning of the series. In season one, they pronounced Torres' first name as "Baylanna", but in recent times, it has been mushed into "Bahlanna". In this ep, her mother correctly says "Baylanna". Points! Maybe Torres prefers the second pronunciation, due to her estrangement from her mother. # Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 9:59 pm: The part with the artifact had to be a dream. It was obvious right from the start. Afterall, the powers that be were not really going to imply that an old Klingon ship made it to the Delta Quadrant "hundreds of years ago," are they? Given what the Empire was probably like in those days... # Kevin Spencer on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 10:24 pm: So you still go to the afterlife even if you're not actually dead yet?? Didn't the doc say something like "she's still breathing enough oxygen so her brain will not necrify" - So technically she's not dead at this point - heart still beating, still has brain activity etc... So if you're not dead how can you be on the barge of the dead? Maybe I missed something! ''Anonymous on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 11:00 pm:''When the brain is deprived of Oxygen it does bizzare thigs, like halucinating. Which is why narcotics like marijuana are popular it reduces the amount of oxygen the blood, and thus the amount of oxygen in the brain. It was all halucinating. HoloDoc and Paris also tell Belanna the lifesupport had failed and she passed out in the shuttlecraft...they never really say she "died." Therefore, she never went to The Barge of the Dead... it was all a hallucination. # Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, October 06, 1999 - 11:43 pm: B'Elanna says that they only have one multi-spacial probe. What!?! Even though this scene was OIBH that is a very dumb idea. Probes are meant to be set out ahead and find out what's ahead. While it might be nice to recover and reuse them, it is foolish to only have one. Gee, B'Elanna remember what happened to that one probe in Scorpion? The Borg got it. It may not be possible to produce more than one multi-spacial probe (This would explain why Voyager expanded so much effort to retrieve the one the Malon tried to steal). # Ryan Smith on Thursday, October 07, 1999 - 3:17 am: Both B'Elanna and the Doctor say that she inherited her forehead from her mother. Appropriately for a half-Klingon, her forehead ridges are subdued in contrast to her mother's. The statement struck me as odd by the fact that B'Elanna didn't inherit the Klingon back ridges that first made their appearance in Ethics TNG. I don't remember seeing them in the sonic shower scene at the end of Juggernaut. Perhaps they are only passed on through Klingon males. # Bitmap on Thursday, October 07, 1999 - 7:10 am: Of all the ways I imagined Torres coming to terms with her klingon half I never thought it would happen in some near death halucination. True, some people's lives have been drastically changed by such experiences but this is the third time a supposed death has troubled a crew member of Voyager (Kim's trip to some other dimension in an alien casket, Neelix's existential nightmare episode, and now this). inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: Was it another dimension? I thought it was a planet a few light-years away in Emanations? # mf on Thursday, October 07, 1999 - 9:53 am: Any comments on the red blood (vs. pepto-color)? They even mention crimson blood at some point. Lea Frost on Thursday, October 07, 1999 - 11:49 am: On red Klingon blood: IIRC the only reason it was stomach-coating Pepto-Bismol color in STVI was to avoid an R rating, which apparently might have been the case if it had been red. (You'll note that Klingons have red blood in all the series.) Doesn't necessarily undo the nit, but it does explain it. Of course, the Barge of the Dead would have looked pretty silly floating down a river of Pepto-Bismol! Though on the plus side, you'd never get indigestion on the way to Grethor... :-) margie on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 11:35 am: Re: Klingon blood - Was there ever a Klingon in the original series who bled? If so, taht should be the correct color since it happened earliest. If the movie is the only place for purple blood, maybe it should be a nit in that movie and not in the shows. Anonymous on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 10:34 pm: I don't know of any TOS series references of Klingon blood. Regardless, TNG established their blood color before ST, didn't they? Bitmap on Monday, October 11, 1999 - 11:41 am: I think Klingon blood is in fact, pink. It's just the universal translator that makes it red. Blake Hodgetts on Tuesday, October 12, 1999 - 1:12 pm: On the color of Klingon blood: seems to me I read somewhere (probably non-canonical) that Klingon blood is based on a manganese-based oxygen carrier rather than on iron-based hemoglobin, and this accounts for its different color. However, this source described its color as "purple", which differs from the pink shown in the film. My theory: Klingon blood changes color radically depending on the length of time it's exposed to the air. When a Klingon is first injured, the blood is a dark purple, and at a casual glance (or to a TV camera), it looks much like human blood. However, when the blood has been floating around in zero g for a while, it turns pink. I thought the blood that flowed out of the "artifact" in BLT's hallucination was distinctly purplish. Ratbat on Friday, April 28, 2000 - 7:26 pm: I actually have a feeling that a NEXT GEN with red Klingon blood came out before ST6 with the mauve stuff. But the movie stuck out most, so... inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: Blake: My theory: Klingon blood changes color radically depending on the length of time it's exposed to the air... I thought the blood that flowed out of the "artifact" in BLT's hallucination was distinctly purplish. An interesting take on Klingon blood. Human blood can be different shades of red, depending on where in the body it's at. The blood from the "artifact" was definately red. # PaulG on Thursday, October 07, 1999 - 10:59 am: I have a question. When the shuttle crash lands into the hanger bay, a cloud of dust appears. Where did this come from? I don't think a metal-on-metal collision would create much of a dust cloud and I don't remember ever seeing an internal dust cloud before when other shuttles crashed. Or has Neelix been less than thorough on his mopping duties? inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: It wasn't dust. It was probably smoke, steam, drive plasma... something a damaged shuttlcraft would produce. # B.F. on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 10:26 am: Are Vulcans and Romulans the only ones with different color blood? How convenient that all these strange species have red blood, just like the humans! Ryan Smith on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 12:07 pm: Bolians have blue blood, as shown in The Adversary DS9. inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: Andorians also have blue blood, while the Breen have none. # Jon Wade on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 3:41 pm: Do you people also realise that all of the main cast have died and was brought back to life at one time or another? B'Ellana.. this episode. Neelix...killed by protomatter Kim... too many times to mention Chakotay... when his soul left... Janeway...met a creature claiming to be her father Tom... when he turned into a lizard Tuvok...I don't think he has. Seven...not sure... Doctor...when his program started degrading, I guess. inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: If you're referring to Threshold, when Tom turned into a lizard, neither Tom nor Janeway died in that ep.Keith Alan Morgan on Friday, October 08, 1999 - 7:48 pm: Well, Tuvok & Neelix ceased to be when they became Tuvix. Flashback also had Tuvok in a near death situation. Also everyone on the ship died in Deadlock. (That is the one with the 2 Voyagers, right?) Even Naomi died there. (Before she became so annoying.) Kes died and was born in Before and After. Seven might have died in One when she used Life Support to power the stasis chambers.asdfjkl on Saturday, October 09, 1999 - 8:29 am: All the crew died in "The year of Hell," before time reversed itsself. KAM on Saturday, October 09, 1999 - 4:51 pm:''Janeway had ordered most of the crew to leave Voyager to find their way home, any way they could, and I believe that only Janeway was on Voyager when she crashed into the timeship.''Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Monday, October 11, 1999 - 8:48 am: Seven died at least three times in Timeless -- but only once on-screen. # Spornan on Tuesday, October 12, 1999 - 10:02 pm: I thought there was a devil in Klingon culture: Fek'lahr, or somesuch (TNG: Devil's Due, if I remember the name) Richie Vest on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 7:19 am: Fek'lahr was described as the guardian of Kilingon Hell and not the devil of it. The Devil would be something different then that. mf on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 2:39 pm: Actually TOS established that the Klingons have no devil. Hence the guardian of hell doubletalk. Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 9:38 pm: Just because Fek'lahr rules Grethor and punishes the dishonored Klingons, is no reason to assume that he is the Klingon equivalent of the Christian Devil. According to the Christian mythology I was raised in, the Devil is pure evil and wants to rule the universe, tempts people to do wrong and then punishes them after death. (Those last two being a complete contradiction in my opinion.) All we know about Fek'lahr is that he punishes dishonorable Klingons. Andrew Gilbertson (Zarm_rkeeg) on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 2:54 pm: Not quite, KAM. The image of the devil as some sort of 'Overseer of Hell' is a pop-culture thing only. According to Christian theology, Satan is not the ruler of Hell, he's the #1 inmate- he's not there to give out torment, he's there to 'get burned,' subject to the same punishment as everyone else. So, in this regard Fek'lhr could be seen as a different role- a controling tormentor, instead of a wannabe-despot who wants to drag as many down along with him as possible but, once he gets there, will be just as much a subject of the torment as they are, not the administrator. ''ScottN on Thursday, October 14, 1999 - 11:25 am:''All we know about Fek'lahr is that he punishes dishonorable Klingons. And his name is kind of nerdy. If I was a Klingon and had a name like "Fek'lahr" I'd go into the devil business too! :-) # LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, May 30, 2001 - 9:01 pm: As in the episode Counterpoint, we see the inside of the shuttlebay when Torres’ shuttle is tractored in during the teaser, and nowhere to be seen are all the shuttlecraft, the Delta Flyer, or Neelix’s shuttle. inblackestnight on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 9:52 am: LN : It was my understanding that Voyager's shuttlebay works on a turnstyle or elevator system, like aircraft carriers, that stores the other craft elsewhere until needed. I don't recall where I got this from but I also mentioned it on an ep in the fifth season. # In the beginning of Act 2, after Torres is revived, Doc heals her hand with a dermal regenerator. Amazingly, not only is the wound sealed, but the blood that had escaped has been magically cleaned away! NarkS on Thursday, May 31, 2001 - 10:40 am: Seems to me to be consistent with past uses of a dermal regenerator. Shouldn't it have a cleaning function as well? Notes Category:Episodes Category:Voyager